CU-ARIZONA Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle

General
"This was a great atmosphere for college basketball tonight, and the whole state of Colorado can be proud, we beat a good basketball team. What makes this win sweet has nothing to do with revenge, it has to do with the respect I have for Arizona, Sean Miller and their basketball program. They are a top ten team in the country, and they are going to win a lot of games as the season unfolds. If we play the way we played tonight, we will too, we proved that we belong but it is short lived. Saturday night is just as big as tonight is, and that is our biggest challenge is getting those guys turned around quickly, mentally, emotionally. This place was electric tonight, there was a lot of emotion in here tonight, and we have to have the same thing on Saturday."

On The Team's Defense
"From start to finish it really was great, we made them work for everything. What I like about our team now, when we break down defensively the players know it, and that is a great sign because it means that they care. They were dialed in tonight defensively, and we made some shots and that really helps when you shoot the way we did tonight especially in the second half."

On Spencer Dinwiddie's Performance
"Spencer is growing up before our eyes; he is becoming one of the premier guards in this league. I have said this before and I will say it again, I would not trade Spencer for anybody, what he brings to this team, his ability, Spencer is special."

On Xavier Talton
"This is another testament to where our team is and the growth that we have made because, I was ready to sub him out and get 'Ski [Booker] back in the game. And Askia Booker said, 'Coach, let him play, he is playing well, let him go he deserves it,' and he played another three to four minutes. That was not the coach's decision that was Askia Booker. When you have got players like that, that are putting their best interest behind the team and their teammates' best interest you have a chance to have something special. I was really proud of Askia Booker that would not have happened earlier this year, I am really proud of him. And Xavier made a big time shot, he had a six-point game, that was a big shot, and he didn't hesitate either. I was really proud of our entire bench even though they might not have played as much, they were key tonight."

On Offensive Efficiency
"Moving the ball, using the shot clock, we talk about getting a great shot for our team every single time, and in order to do that you have to share the ball, and move the ball. Arizona is a good defensive team, and now at the end of the shot clock you have to make a play, and we were able to do that. Xavier Johnson made some three's, [Xavier] Talton, [Spencer] Dinwiddie had some big ones at the end of the shot clock. And you could really see that deflate them, when you use the shot clock especially at the end of the half it is hard on the other team emotionally. We always talk about playing hard, smart, and playing aggressive, and that is the playing smart part that our team is starting to figure out. We always want to be in attack mode, but getting a great shot is critical."

On Beating Two Top 25 Teams
"It means we have to win on Saturday night, because Arizona State beat us, just like Arizona did. We have to take care of the next game on our schedule, and the fact that we have beaten two top 25 five teams I think says a lot about our team and our ability. We have got to hold serve at home, I am still aggravated about the UCLA game, so we have to take care of business on Saturday."

On Tonight's Atmosphere
"The fans were a part of this victory, and I want our fans and students to know that everybody in this building was a part of this victory, it was everybody."

On Arizona State
"Right now every game is dangerous, Arizona State just lost to Utah on the road, so Utah is dangerous, they are all dangerous. It is league play in a good and much-improved league and you cannot take anything for granted. That is the challenge; that we have to have a quick turnaround Saturday at 7:00 we have to be emotionally ready, spiritually ready, physically, mentally ready to play a game and it is going to be just like tonight a great game against a great Arizona State basketball team."

University of Colorado Student-Athletes

Spencer Dinwiddie, So., G

General
"It felt great, losing to Arizona (in January), that sucked, but being able to come here and win is always good."

On The Amount Of Hype Surrounding The Game
"I think it is a testament to our team's focus, we didn't get too high. We had our focus on our goal and our goal was to beat them and to beat them defensively."

On Being Able To Hold On To The Lead
"I just think we were more poised down the stretch. We got stops which was the biggest thing against Arizona the first time. Even with the turnovers and missed free-throws, if we don't let them score they don't get back into the game. Tonight we held them to 58 points, which is good enough to beat any good team because we will score 60 or more."

On The Crowd
"They were great. When we hit a lull and they pulled it to six, they were bringing the energy and helping us pick it up, and were just being there for us. (They are) the best sixth man in the conference."

On Post Play
"Andre [Roberson] plays like we expect. Xavier [Johnson] hit more shots than normal but we expect that kind of game from him, he is that kind of talent. Shane [Harris-Tunks], a lot of people have opinions about him but he is very solid, he is probably our best big man defender, and he showed that tonight and he shows it every day in practice, so we have a ton of faith in him especially on the defensive end. Josh is very sturdy all the time, so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it is the standard we hold our big men to, and they just proved that tonight."

On If The Loss In Arizona Was Motivation For Tonight
"Well of course, we were disappointed with how we closed it out it, and it goes without saying we were disappointed with the call at the end of the game. This is definitely a revenge game. As far as the slump that we went in to; we are not blaming it on the call or the outcome of that game, we just played some bad basketball and we had an extended stretch of that. The mark of a good team is to pull out of that and to be more consistent and play some good basketball and I think you are seeing that now."

On If Anyone Can Guard Him
"The politically correct answer would be, it is a blessing to hit shots and I am thankful. But in my honest opinion I don't think anyone can guard me at any time."

On His Career-High Assists
"I didn't play too much different, it was really, I have got give thanks to this person [Xavier Johnson], he made a ton of shots, a bunch of threes. Without him I don't get those assists, a lot of those are him."

Xavier Johnson, Fr., F

On The Offensive Game Plan
"We threw the ball around and created offense, everyone was scoring. It is hard to stop that on defense."

On His Two Performances Against UA
"Playing against Grant Jerrett in high school and some of those other players I played (against), I knew them when I grew up. It adds fuel to the fire and that why I was able to do what I did."

Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller

General
"Our defense has been what has gotten us to this point. If you look at tonight or against Cal, our last two losses, our defense has had a hard time getting stops. We really have. Some of it is very good play by the other team and some of it is us. We wouldn't be the team we are today and have the record we have if teams would have shot like this against us. We've played against some of the best teams in this country and our defense has held up. Tonight, it didn't. I credit Colorado. From our standpoint we have to get back when we play Utah. We have to get stops and a tough-minded defensive team. The other thing that was hard was in the first half, we went into the half 1-of-10 from three (point range).
`I don't think we took necessarily bad threes. On the road, you have to make sure you make plays on offense and defense. To be 1-10 for three and dig yourself down by seven points, that hurt us. At the beginning of the second half, we got off to a slow start and I had to call about ten timeouts. The bottom line is that around the nine minute mark, it was a six-point game, and once again they were leading us at the bell. I credit them, they played an excellent game."`

On Xavier Johnson
"Getting Xavier has really been a great thing for them. He's playing exceptionally well and I think it's just a reminder to high schools all over, and a new race has begun and Xavier Johnson is well aware of that."

On Spencer Dinwiddie
"He's really good, he really is. His height and his range, I said this last year, when you look at [Andre] Roberson, [Spencer] Dinwiddie, and Xavier Johnson this year that's not to take away anything from their other players, but those guys are some of the elite players in our conference."

On Angelo Chol
"One of the things I was excited about was seeing Angelo Chol play the way he did, he really played well you can tell his confidence is growing and he made some really big plays in the first half especially. He really played about as well in his role as anyone on the team."

On Arizona's Effort
"We played hard, it wasn't as if I was yelling at our guys to play harder. Colorado was playing at a high level and I thought that environment with the way they were playing it would have taken a great effort by us to win that game.

On Where The Team Is After The Loss
"20-4."

On Losing Two-In-A-Row
"It's never as bad as its seems and the sky isn't falling, for all I know we can go to Utah, play a great game then we have two home games after that and we get back on track. There aren't a lot of teams right now that are headed where we're headed and no question there's bumps in the road over a long season. It's difficult to win here, I think they're 41-5 over the last few years, we played hard tonight, they were the better team though."

-COLORADO-